Ankle cinch for high boots



April 10, 1956 w c MATHEWS 2,741,039

ANKLE CINCH FOR HIGH BOOTS Filed May 11, 1953 lnventor: EY C. MATHEWS,

attorneys,

United States Patent ANKLE CINCH FOR HIGH BOOTS Wesley C. Mathews, Salt Lake City, Utah Application May 11, 1953, Serial No. 354,215

5 Claims. (Cl. 3658.5)

This invention relates to an ankle cinch for high boots, such as hip boots. Hunters, fisherman and others who find it necessary to wade through swampy soil or gumbo, frequently have considerable trouble in keeping boots from slipping off the feet, due to the fact that the foot portion of the boot is drawn in and held by the suction of the soil around the boot; Therefore,it becomes desirable to provide means for securely holding the boots on the feet with ties of more than ordinary resistance. The invention provides a highly efficient cinch for high boots, which is simple to manufacture, is easily and quickly placed in the wearing position and which is inexpensive. The device of the invention consists advantageously of two bands, preferably made of jute-filled cotton webbing, these bands meeting at the instep of the foot and being united to each other by suitable stitching. One band extends around the back of the ankle and the ther under the instep of the foot, each of the two bands rming loops of approximately U-shape.

The cinch, structurally, is formed in one piece, shoe fashion and, in the open position, before putting it in place on a booted foot, has, in general, the appearance of a cradle or boat with bottom removed when looking towards the inside thereof.

In the accompanying drawing which illustrates an excellent embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 represents the invention as applied to a typical high boot;

Fig. 2, a side elevation corresponding to Fig. 1;

Fig. 3, a fragmentary rear elevation;

Fig. 4, a top plan of the cinch alone;

Figs. 5 and 6, developments of the respective bands which enter into the construction of the cinch;

Fig. 7, a fragmentary side elevation of the portion enclosed by the broken line 7 in Fig. 2, but drawn to the same scale used in Figs. 5 and 6, the lacing being omitted;

Fig. 8, a perspective view looking in the direction of the arrow 8 in Fig. 7;

Fig. 9, a cross-section taken on the line 9-9 in Fig. 5, drawn to an enlarged scale;

Fig. 10, approximately the fragmentary position enclosed by the broken line 8, in Fig. 9 drawn to a scale still further enlarged.

Referring to the drawing, the numeral indicates the cinch complete with the necessary lacing 21 as applied to a high boot 22 of typical configuration. The cinch consists of the ankle band 23 and the instep band 24. These bands have substantial width, for example approximately two inches, so as to prevent uncomfortable compression upon a wearers foot after the lacing 21 is used to tightly draw the assembled bands 23 and 24 together. The bands 23 and 24 are advantageously jutefilled cotton webbing, which is a commodity in use in various arts and is obtainable in the open market. Each of the bands 23 and 24 has its opposite ends beveled or cut on the bias, as at 25 and 26, respectively, Figs. 5 and 6, the lengths of the two bands preferably being unequal for a reason which will presently appear. Ordinarily it is preferable to use the longer band for the instep and the shorter for the ankle. The two bands are united to form the cinch assembly by symmetrically overlapping opposing tip portions of corresponding sets of the beveled ends of the bands, somewhat after the manner indicated at 27, best shown in Fig. 7.

Before assembling the bands 23 and 24 it is desirable that the edges of the respective end portions 25 and 26 be bound with suitable woven tape 28, the tape and the band fabric being stitched together as indicated at 29 to prevent unraveling of the band. As a rule, the ends of the bands are mitered, thereby producing an acute angle, for example forty-five degrees, which results in an angle of approximately ninety degrees between the intersecting planes 23a and 24a of the U-shaped bands 23 and 24. The unequal lengths of the two bands aid in producing the aforementioned boatlike assembly structure.

This construction allows the two bands of the assembly to be stitched together substantially along the perimeter of thetriangular overlap 30 of the tip portions of the opposing ends of such bands. A plurality of eyelets 31, preferably made of metal, and suitably spaced along the marginal portion 32 of the assembly, is provided for receiving the lacing thongs 21 made, for example, of rawhide. As can be seen from Fig. 7 of the drawing, the margin 32 ispreferably rectilinear and perpendicular to thebisec'ting altitude of triangular overlap 30, the latter being isosceles in character. The eyelets 31 are mutually aligned within and in parallel with such margin 32, there being preferably a pair of eyelets in each band end disposed laterally of but not within the triangular overlap 30. Thus, the eyelets may be conveniently inserted in the respective band ends either before or after joinder of the two bands together. The illustrated uniform spacing of the several eyelets, as so aligned, gives best results in effectively distributing the cinching force of the thong 21 between the two band components of the assembly without discomfort to the wearer.

The suitability of the aforementioned jute-filled cotton webbing, for the present purpose is easily seen in Fig. 10 where the cotton webbing 33 is suitably woven around the jute filling 34 to produce an exceptionally strong yet yieldable, cellular structure inherently cushioning in character. The limited yieldability and the cushioning nature of such material, coupled with its great strength and frictional webbing surface, combine with the unique construction of the cinch assembly to provide unusual holding capacity and comfort for the purpose for which it was developed. Thus, the utility of the device of the invention is outstanding, because of the high degree of convenience and comfort it provides for the wearer,

while, at the same time, insuring a fastening having exceptional holding qualities. Furthermore, these exceptional qualities are obtained inexpensively.

The method of attaching the cinch to a booted foot in the wearing position can be visualized by referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 8. Supposing the open cradle-like as sembly of Fig. 8 to have a lacing thong (not shown in Fig. 8) to be loosely threaded through the respective eyelets as suggested in Figs. 1 and 2 before tying, the loose, cradle-like cinch assembly is slipped over the foot somewhat after the fashion of getting a foot into a shoe. As a result, the U-band 24 comes into place just ahead of the heel 35 of the boot, as clearly illustrated in Fig. 2. Now, by drawing the lacing 21 into the final, tightly cinched position of Figs. 1 and 2, a fastening is produced which does not readily let go, nor allow the foot to slip out from the boot.

It is to be observed that tightening the cinch exerts a resultant stress along approximately the arrow 36, di-

0 rected along the afore-referred-to bisecting altitude of the triangular overlap 30. The resultant stress of course has the component stresses indicated by the arrows 37 and 38 along the respective U-bands 23 and 24.

A feature of the present device is that in the finished wearing position the stress exerted by the lacing upon the two limp bands or strips 23 and 24 produces the resultant force 36 approximately normal to the surface 39 of the instep, and that the component stresses 37 and 38 in the limp bands lie in planes 23a and 24a containing the looped edges of the respective bands. Graphically, the resultant stress 36 may be described as represented by the stem of a capital letter Y, while the component stresses 37 and 38 might be represented by the two branches of the capital letter Y to constitute the finished symmetrical configuration. In order to constitute the structural assembly conforming to such graphical representation, the adjacent and overlapping, beveled or biased ends of the two limp bands, as secured together by respective triangular areas of securement 30, are in reverse I with respect to each other, that is, they are in opposed overlapping relation. This can be clearly seen from Fig. 7, where the opposed and overlapping, acutely angled tips of the respective bands 23 and 24 are directed oppositely, the longer edges of the respective bands being disposed in mutual adjacency.

What is claimed is:

1. An ankle cinch for high boots, comprising two bands of strip formation, each of which has its ends beveled oppositely to provide at each of said ends a tip portion of acute angle formation, the two bands being assembled so that the beveled ends of one overlap the corresponding beveled ends of the other to an extent limited to only said tip portions of each band and in oppositely directed relationship, thereby producing an open-cradle formation adapted to receive the heel of a boot between the bands, said formation having opposed, elongate, cinching margins; and means securing the overlapped tip portions of said beveled ends together.

2. An ankle cinch for high boots, as set forth in claim 1, wherein the ends of each of the bands are beveled oppositely to substantially an equivalent extent and the mutually overlapped tip portions are overlapped symmetrically, with the bevel edges of each set of overlapped beveled ends substantially aligned mutually to provide respective triangular areas of overlap.

3. An ankle cinch for high boots, as set forth in claim 2, wherein the securing means comprise lines of stitching extending about the perimeters of the said respective triangular areas of overlap.

4. An ankle cinch for high boots, as set forth in claim 1, wherein there are additionally provided cinching means extending along each cinching margin and disposed laterally of and not within the respective areas of tip portion overlap. v

5. An ankle cinch for high boots, as set fortth in claim 1, wherein each band is made of a material of the nature of jutefilled cotton webbing.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 5,832 Great Britain Mar. 20, 1905 193,867 Germany Jan. 7, 1908 152,938 Austria Mar. 25, 1938 

